This application is based on applications No. 2520/2000 and No. 2521/2000 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel incorporating a blur correction mechanism, which is used in an image taking apparatus such as a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been an image taking apparatus with a blur correction mechanism incorporated in a lens barrel thereof. Such an apparatus includes an apparatus with a variable vertical angle prism in which viscous fluid is sealed by two glasses, the relative angle of which is changed by an actuator, and an apparatus with a correction lens (or compensation lens) which is displaced parallel to an X axis and a Y axis.
The blur correction (compensation) mechanism with the parallel displaceable correction lens makes a size of a lens barrel bigger, since the correction lens is displaced or moved parallel to two axes that cross perpendicular to each other. In addition, the blur correction mechanism with the parallel displaceable correction lens employs an electromagnetic drive device for performing a thrust drive operation by oscillating coil, or for performing a lever drive operation by a motor, which also causes the lens barrel size to be increased since the driving force of the electromagnetic drive device is small per unit volume thereof.
On the other hand, a recent LS camera (i.e. a lens shutter cameras) is becoming smaller in size and larger in magnification, which increases the necessity for blur correction or compensation. Any conventional blur correction mechanism, however, has been too large to be applied to the LS camera.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lens driving mechanism for the correction lens which contributes to a miniaturization thereof, thus contributing to a compactness of a camera with the lens barrel into which the lens driving mechanism is incorporated.
In accomplishing this and other objects of the present invention, according to an aspect thereof, there is provided a lens driving mechanism, comprising: a lens; a frame for holding the lens; a first lever, one end of which is rotatably connected to the frame via a first holding shaft which extends parallel to an optical axis of the lens, and the other end of which is rotatably supported by a first rotation shaft; and a second lever, one end of which is rotatably connected to the frame via a second holding shaft which extends parallel to the optical axis of the lens, and the other end of which is rotatably supported by a second rotation shaft, wherein the first holding shaft, the first rotation shaft, the second holding shaft, and the second rotation shaft are generally arranged on one straight line, and wherein there is formed a generally perpendicular angle by a line connecting the first holding shaft and an optical center of the lens, and a line connecting the second holding shaft and the optical center of the lens.
In the lens driving mechanism, the lens can be a blur correction (or compensation) lens.
In the lens driving mechanism, there can be minimized a distance change between the first and second holding shafts during the rotation movements of the first and second levers for driving the lens. Therefore, a precise blur correction can be realized by a simple control manner. Further, since the first and second levers can be accommodated in one half of area of a lens barrel at its cross section perpendicular to an optical axis, the lens barrel can be small-sized. It is preferable that the first lever and the second lever are arranged in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis so as to be symmetrical with respect to a line running through the optical center.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lens driving mechanism, comprising: a lens barrel; a lens supported in the lens barrel; a first-driving mechanism for driving the lens, which is accommodated in the lens barrel and occupies a first half of a total area of the lens barrel at a cross section perpendicular to an optical axis of the lens; and a second-driving mechanism, which is accommodated in the lens barrel and occupies a second half of the total area thereof at the cross section, wherein the first half and the second half constitute the total area in the cross section of the lens barrel.
In the lens driving mechanism, the lens can be a blur correction (or compensation) lens.
The second driving mechanism can drive other mechanism than the lens, such as a shutter mechanism, an aperture mechanism, and so on.